Thursday, October 06, 2005

Long Awaited Update!


I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to all my blog fans for taking so long to update! I've been meaning to for about 5 days, but I just haven't really had time to sit down and do it right... And if you're not going to do it right, you should just wait until you can. That time came and it is now. :)


I've been super busy with training and making sure I'm getting enough sleep. That is very important here because we do so much and are exposed to lots of other people's gross germs and if you're not taking care of yourself, you're just asking for trouble!

This picture is from Downtown Charleston. There is a waterfront park with fountains and a pier. It's really beautiful and there are many palmetto's there for your viewing enjoyment. South Carolinans are very proud of their palmetto's. Who knew. It's on their state flag--which is everywhere! The Californian's on my team were talking about how we don't really have much state flag pride. I think it's because our flag really isn't all that snazzy. It actually took us a bit of time to remember everything that was on it. Enough randomness!

If you look on one of my past posts, you'll see a picture of my team infront of the house that we worked on during our time with Habitat with Humanity. Here is a picture of what the house looked like after our three days of work. We really got a lot done and I was

very proud of my team and what we were able to accomplish. We did work with another team which was also awesome. There were several members on my team that had no experience with any type of construction and it was wonderful to see their enthusiam for learning and getting things done. That's what we're about here in AmeriCorps. :) For me, I really enjoyed all the hammering and the new construction experiences I was able to have... Like putting on a roof--using a 2x4 as an extended arm to get the tresses on the top of the walls... hammering support beams in the attic. I have officially conquered my fear of heights. I figure if you can be climbing on 2x4's that are about 2 feet apart while bent over trying not to hit your head, in Ronald McDonald size steel toe boots, hammering nails that have a coating that makes them impossible to hammer in less than 5 minutes per nail--- I think you're good. :)

Onto other very important news... In case you haven't already heard: I'M GOING TO MIAMI!! Our first project will be in Miami! How cool is that? We are going to be working with Miami Parks and Recreation working on Virginia Key. As to what we are going to do while we are there, we will be doing some disaster relief (removing debris from Katirna and Rita) but mostly we will be working in a "hammock" that they have set up on the island--removing invasive exoctic plant species (fancy way of saying pulling weeds), planting things that are supposed to be there and working in a nursery that they have set up. We are going to be living in a house that they have rented for us down there. If you want to know more about the area you can go to this website: http://www.miamidade.gov/Build/history_virginia_key.asp It well tell you a bit about the keys history. It's very interesting.

Something that is going to be very neat is that Sara will only be an hour away from me so I'll be able to see her at some point during the month that I am there. If you don't know why Sara will be there.... give her a call! :)

Right now, it's raining cats and dogs here in Charleston. We're being affected by Tropical Storm Tammy. The roads on the base get flooded and it is so much fun driving the vans around! :) Really, it's not that bad and people here are much better at driving in rain than people are in Southern Cali. What a relief! :)

That's all for now folks. I'm going to be hanging out with Alexia (cousin for those of you who don't know) this weekend. We have Colombus day off and so I get a three day weekend. I have no idea what we will be doing, but it will be awesome to get off the base for an extended period of time and to not wear my uniform for three days in a row! Yea!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who are you and what have you done with our daughter? I can't believe all the things you are doing there. It's really great to hear about the many adventures and the pictures are great too. Thanks for doing this for all of us back home. I love you and miss you. Mom

P.S. Sara if you read this. Good luck and let us know how you are doing from time to time. :)